Of the different uses of discourse analysis, one of the more significant is the way it can be used to introduce students to the culture and literary practices of the disciplines. This article describes how one type of analysis - Halliday’s transitivity - has been used in an academic advising context to assist students struggling to write effectively in a range of discipline areas: history, visual art and sociology. Analysis of this kind, it is argued, has the potential not only to clarify to students the immediate requirements of the academic tasks they have to complete, but also to help them understand some of the broader epistemological issues that may be at stake.